Acordias has received approval for its application to be regulated in the Isle of Man by the island’s Financial Supervision Commission (FSC), subject to it satisfying certain conditions, such as having a permanent presence there.
As part of the relocation to the IoM, Acordias said it is to launch a new and more advanced platform application, Acordias 2.0, in the third or fourth quarter of 2012, and that it understands that it will be the jurisdiction’s first fully regulated wealth management platform.
The physical move of desks and telephones to Douglas from London will take place over the next two months, according to Acordias chief executive Andrew Wilkins.
Wilkins, a South African who founded the company in May 2010 with his twin brother Simon, after a number of years in both onshore and offshore financial services , said both he and Simon are moving to the island with their business.
‘Not just trading platform’
Wilkins said the new Acordias 2.0 platform system was being designed to provide clients with “more than just a platform for trading and warehousing funds”.
Instead, he said, it will “capture the entire investment lifecycle for our IFA clients, from the earliest stages of acquiring their clients, to the financial planning stage, portfolio building stage, and finally, to the stage where they remain in touch with their clients over the years, as their assets grow and their wealth needs evolve”.
“With Acordias 2.0, we believe we are giving the industry what it wants – a collection of flexible opt in/out modules, including customer relationship management, holistic financial planning of on- and off-platform assets, direct and wrapped trading and portfolio management, reporting and alerts, and other options, in a package that is easy to use,” Wilkins added.
Separately, Acordias said Owen Donnelly had joined the company as chief operating officer and a member of its board. He was previously chief investment officer at IoM-based Hansard Global, the international life company.
As reported last month, the Federation of European Independent Financial Advisers has named Acordias to be the organisation’s “preferred platform partner”, following what it said had been an extensive review of the companies operating in the international platform space.
